There's a poll on ESPN.com asking to pick "America's Team" out of the Lakers, Yankees, Cowboys, and Notre Dame football. Seeing these choices made me realize what an active dislike I have for the three pro teams among the options. If any of them are America's team, I'll be busted for treason any day now.

On the flip side I do consider myself a Notre Dame fan, which I can track back to my dad. But he was also a nominal Cowboys fan (having grown up in Dallas), which didn't rub off at all. To be fair, though, I think if you asked him to rank his favorite football teams it'd be ND first and whoever was playing the Patriots second.

(If I've not mentioned it, my dad had a fairly serious antipathy for the Pats based primarily - from what I can remember - on the Sullivan family. Not sure why he continued to dislike them so once they were gone, but at some point I assume it became second nature.)

Interestingly, the Atlanta Braves weren't an option. They're probably the one pro team who's tried to use the "America's Team" bit that I can stand to watch. I assume the snub was for business reasons.